posted at 10:46 am on December 9, 2008 by Allahpundit

On the issue of the U.S. Senate selection, federal prosecutors alleged Blagojevich sought appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Obama administration, or a lucrative job with a union in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate.

Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of Blagojevich in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co.

Blagojevich and Harris, along with others, obtained and sought to gain financial benefits for the governor, members of his family and his campaign fund in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state jobs and state contracts.

“The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement.

Fitzmas arrives early this year. I haven’t followed the Blago saga, but it’s as old as Hot Air is: The investigation’s been active for three years and his cronies have been rolling over on him for months, culminating in a former aide named John Wyma having somehow cooperated with the feds to obtain recordings of Blagojevich yakking about graft. (The Tribune, which broke the news, won’t say if he wore a wire.) Another top crony was convicted six months ago of mail fraud, among other things, but his sentencing was postponed from October to January amid rumors that he was singing to the U.S. Attorney about the Chicago machine in hopes of a better deal. You might have heard of him.

Throughout the intercepted conversations, Blagojevich also allegedly spent significant time weighing the option of appointing himself to the open Senate seat and expressed a variety of reasons for doing so, including: frustration at being “stuck” as governor; a belief that he will be able to obtain greater resources if he is indicted as a sitting Senator as opposed to a sitting governor; a desire to remake his image in consideration of a possible run for President in 2016; avoiding impeachment by the Illinois legislature; making corporate contacts that would be of value to him after leaving public office; facilitating his wife’s employment as a lobbyist; and generating speaking fees should he decide to leave public office…

In a conversation with Harris on November 11, the charges state, Blagojevich said he knew that the President-elect wanted Senate Candidate 1 for the open seat [This is certainly Valerie Jarrett. — AP] but “they’re not willing to give me anything except appreciation. [Expletive] them.”…

As recently as December 4, in separate conversations with Advisor B and Fundraiser A, Blagojevich said that he was “elevating” Senate Candidate 5 on the list of candidates because, among other reasons, if Blagojevich ran for re-election, Senate Candidate 5 would “raise[] money” for him. Blagojevich said that he might be able to cut a deal with Senate Candidate 5 that provided Blagojevich with something “tangible up front.”

Here’s vid of Blago yesterday inviting the world to tape his phone calls and sounding very sincere indeed. Exit question one: Did this guy actually approach Team Barry with some sort of graft proposal to get Jarrett appointed? E.g., “Make me HHS Secretary if you want her in”? Exit question two: Who’s Senate Candidate 5, whom Blagojevich thought might be willing to offer something “tangible” up front?

Update:Meet the man who’ll be dealing with Senate Candidate 5 now. A belated thought: Is this the single dumbest racket ever attempted by a major politician? He knew the U.S. Attorney was investigating him, he knew he couldn’t trust his cronies — and yet he was still willing to talk openly about selling a seat in the United States Senate?

Update: Politico reads Blago’s statement that he wanted “something real good” and “valuable” in return for appointing Jarrett as a suggestion that he was hitting up the Obama campaign for cash. I’m not sure where they’re getting that; it could just as easily mean an appointment of some kind, which probably wouldn’t be illegal so far as I know. This bit from the complaint is interesting, though:

HARRIS said they could work out a three-way deal with SEIU and the President-elect where SEIU could help the President-elect with ROD BLAGOJEVICH’s appointment of Senate Candidate 1 to the vacant Senate seat, ROD BLAGOJEVICH would obtain a position as the National Director of the Change to Win campaign, and SEIU would get something favorable from the President-elect in the future.

We’ll have to wait until next Fitzmas, I guess, to find out if they ever went to Team Barry with this idea.

Update: Blagojevich’s approval rating as of mid-October was … four percent. No typo.

Update: An intriguing theory from Ben Smith: Did Team Barry yank Jarrett out of contention for the Senate seat because Blago approached them with an improper offer? CNN reported on November 9 that she was The One’s choice to replace him; just a day later, he’d suddenly decided that he wanted her with him in the White House after all.

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In the initial slaughter of Bush-appointed federal prosecutors following the inauguration of our upcoming President, one Patrick Fitzgerald is just about certain to be the first one purged. He has been a thorn in the side of the Chicago mob for far too long to suit them, and once one of their own is seated in the White House it will be ‘happy days are here again’.
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It is a bit staggering to see how entitled that mob feels to crookedness-at-will, and how immune they must have been for long years to build up that sense of entitlement. I seem to recall that Dan Rostenkowski had the same mentality, and was outraged that anyone would think his peculations weren’t priveleges he was entitled to.
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MSM, are you listening? Do keep an eye on this Obama guy, and perhaps it’s time to start the in-depth reporting on his political career that your exclusive investment in Bush-bashing has left you no manpower to investigate.

YYZ – But shouldn’t Obama’s people have told someone the Gov was looking for favors in exchange for an appointment for Jarrett?
How clean are you if you know your Senate seat is being put on ebay and you don’t do anything about it?

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald better work fast and hard on this while he can…plus anything that ties Obama into the Chicago way of doing things.
The clock is ticking before it all gets swept under the bus.

Just finished “The Eloquent President” by Ronald C. White Jr., the latest of a shelf full of books I’ve read on another Illinois politician – Abe Lincoln.

The contrast between the great man who penned these words: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right…” and the self-centered fool Blogojevich, is astounding.

Man… I’m glad they got him while Bush was still in office… if we had waited until the godbama had gotten in.. we may have never gotten him… it makes me shutter to think what kind of stuff will be going under the radar once the godbama does take office though….

“Staggering”, my a$$! Who thought this low-life weasel wasn’t capable of this? Even a cursory examination of his past dealings should disabuse you of any thoughts to the contrary.
Rot in prison, Bloggo, you scum!

Dear Governor Blagojevich,
I’m interested in the Senate seat vacated by our new President-elect. I will be moving to Illinois soon to establish residency. Will trade 1982 Toyota PU (still running), three Jose Canseco rookie cards, and a one original Marilyn Monroe Playboy Centerfold. Please respond by email, usdoj.gov/compensation/bribes/……..
Rovin on December 9, 2008 at 11:24 AM

In the initial slaughter of Bush-appointed federal prosecutors following the inauguration of our upcoming President, one Patrick Fitzgerald is just about certain to be the first one purged. He has been a thorn in the side of the Chicago mob for far too long to suit them, and once one of their own is seated in the White House it will be ‘happy days are here again’.

Insufficiently Sensitive on December 9, 2008 at 11:27 AM

I think the Chicago mob was just the booster rocket. Now that O’s in orbit the booster will need to be safely jettisoned.

That White House pardon authority is going to be used early and often over the next four years….

Can anyone actually look at the list of traitors, felons (convicted and accused), race-baiters and all-around thugs in Osama Obama’s past and current life and believe he is pure as the driven, ummmmm, snow?

If you can, can I interest you in buying a low-mileage bridge?

All this makes filling in the gaps in The Messiah’s life — from birth to, say, two years ago — vitally important.

We’ve had a very few seriously deficient men as President in the past, but Obama is beginning to look like he’ll make the worst of them look like Sunday-school teachers….

Wow, the Chicago way is just like the Detroit way — only more corrupt.

I wonder how much of this brand of Chicago corruption will be seen in the character of the new Obama administration? If so, then there’s one politician in America who has made a name as the great corruption cleaner/reformer kicking out of office crooked one term politicians and enacting sweeping ethics reforms.

Possibly we could dig up Al Capone and put him in as the new Senator from Illinois. He would fit in perfectly with the cesspool Illinois / Chicago government. He would be a pretty good fit in the U.S. Senate also!
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Maybe a special federal prison building should be set up for convicted Democratic and Republican corruptocrats–we are sure getting a lot of them these days–with many more to come soon.
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The most ethical Congress and state governments evah! They remind me of the Mexican Government corruption scandals–only with more money and power.
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John Bibb

He sounds like a Mafia Don wannabe. I love the part where he says “Feel free to tape me, just give me a ‘heads up’ first.” That’s his unconscious screaming “YES, I REALLY AM GUILTY!” And, given that he knows they might be taping him, he STILL gives them the rope to hang him with. Talk about arrogance. And remember, he’s just an Obama understudy. The real bad guy hasn’t been caught yet, though we should pray it will be soon.

Haha, I see “Big S” and “YYZ” are in full damage control mode. Sorry, but that won’t work.

Blago and BO is tight. This would be like Robert Kennedy being arrested a month after JFK’s election victory in 1960.

Norwegian on December 9, 2008 at 11:37 AM

First of all, you’re overstating the “tightness” of Obama and Blagojevich. They may have used each other in the past, but like most politicians, they’re in it for themselves.

Second, if you’re hoping for some presidency-destroying info to come out two weeks after an election, you’re being a little too optimistic. People have known about the Obama/Rezko shenanigans for a while, and various well-connected politicians (from Clinton to McCain) would have had their feelers out for anything that could hurt Obama. There’s probably not a lot more to the Obama/Rezko stuff than we already know.

In the initial slaughter of Bush-appointed federal prosecutors following the inauguration of our upcoming President, one Patrick Fitzgerald is just about certain to be the first one purged. He has been a thorn in the side of the Chicago mob for far too long to suit them, and once one of their own is seated in the White House it will be ‘happy days are here again’.
.
It is a bit staggering to see how entitled that mob feels to crookedness-at-will, and how immune they must have been for long years to build up that sense of entitlement. I seem to recall that Dan Rostenkowski had the same mentality, and was outraged that anyone would think his peculations weren’t priveleges he was entitled to.
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MSM, are you listening? Do keep an eye on this Obama guy, and perhaps it’s time to start the in-depth reporting on his political career that your exclusive investment in Bush-bashing has left you no manpower to investigate.

Insufficiently Sensitive on December 9, 2008 at 11:27 AM

Fitzgerald knows this which is why Fitzmas came early this year :)!! Barry cannot touch Fitzgerald now because of what he pulled early today. It would look very bad if Barry decided to do so.

I don’t know what could be worse a Obama presidency or a Biden presidency.

Lance Murdock on December 9, 2008 at 11:28 AM

At least we’ll have stand up comedy with Biden, and the stand up comics will have unlimited material.
I can name worse….Pelosi. Could you imagine blinky standing eye to eye with the Soviet Union, uh, I mean, Russia?